Cross country: Lyons' Roberts named BoCoPreps boys Runner of the Year

Sophomore made it two-for-two with second 2A state title

Lyons sophomore Paul Roberts won the BoCoPreps.com boys Runner of the Year honor after winning his second consecutive 2A state title.
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Matthew Jonas
)

LYONS -- If only it was as simple as putting one foot in front of the other.

The good ones go the extra effort and have a game plan going into not just each race, but a blueprint for their season.

Paul Roberts should be the poster child for going the extra effort. The Lyons sophomore is already a two-time state champion -- he doesn't shy away from talk of becoming Colorado's first four-timer either -- and is the 2013 BoCoPreps.com boys Runner of the Year.

"Ever since I was younger I've been watching my brothers and sisters just run and I've always wanted to be out there just competing," said Paul Roberts, whose sister Miriam won the 2A girls title. "Just going out and running every day with my teammates, they are my best friends and they are just like family."

A family that became that much closer after the events of September left the town of Lyons in ruin. The flood was a painful reminder of the awesome force of nature, but more importantly, also the willingness of a community to rally around its school and their sports teams.

While the Roberts family wasn't directly affected by the devastation, members of the team were and they sought refuge with their teammates, as well as in the serenity of running.

"At the end of the day I think in some ways it made cross country a richer experience for kids because it was a safe haven in the midst of all the other things that were going on in their life," said Paul's dad and Lyons coach Mark Roberts. "It was two hours out of the day that you knew what the routine was going to be and you were going to be with people you enjoyed being around and supported you. In some ways it brought our team closer."

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Paul Roberts' quest for a second straight title began over the summer with Lyons assistant coach Jeff Boelé. Boelé's program, which he says is not magical or any different from what other people are doing, is anywhere from a 20-24 week program that runs into the season and includes the obvious running days but also includes specific non-running workouts -- something they call ancillary workouts -- to maximize every member of the team's potential

Boelé has been instrumental in Paul Roberts' training since he was in the sixth grade, and even then he knew there was something special in his future.

"If I were to say that there were a couple of core ingredients to Paul's success, I would say he has been running longer than most kids his age. He works tremendously hard and he doesn't cut corners anywhere and he is extremely coachable," Boelé said. "When you put those things together they seem to produce some good results."

The only hiccup in an otherwise flawless season for Paul was what Mark Roberts called a "hot spot" on his shin that he had to work through.

"He had to take some time off and get in the pool and do some aqua-jogging," Mark said. "I think he handled that experience really well and that was a new experience for him. Just having to manage that was the biggest challenge he had in a lot of ways."

When Paul Roberts won the Class 2A state meet at Norris-Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs in 16 minutes, 19.6 seconds, it was the fastest time ever recorded on the course. That course record stood for a little over an hour until Denver East's Cerake Geberkidane went 31 seconds faster in the 5A final.

Paul Roberts led a motivated group of Lions -- including Marcel and Joel Such as well as Matt Dillon and Heath Fesenmeyer -- that went 1-2-3-4 at regionals and then 1-2-3 at state, running with a bigger goal in mind.

"The goal we had at the beginning of the season was to get into the championship at the Nike Cross Regionals and winning state was kind of an expected goal on the way because we just knew that on paper if we stayed healthy, based on what we had coming back and what other teams had coming back in 2A, that that wasn't going to be our biggest challenge of the year," Mark Roberts said. "We needed to raise the bar for these guys and set it a little higher, that just winning 2A wasn't enough of a goal for them to meet the potential we saw in them."

Paul Roberts is only going to get better, and when the state meet returns to Colorado Springs next season, he can't help but think of the distinct advantage he will already have on the field on the a course he knows very well. But just like at the Nike race, where he had an off day and got caught up in traffic and had to work his way through the field, things sometimes happen that are beyond his control.

He knows that too, and that's why the thought of winning four titles is not at the forefront of his mind.

"I think about it a little bit, but the one thing I want to do is go out and run to the best of my abilities for God in every race. I run to the best of my abilities for my teammates and my coaches and at the end of the race I gave the best effort that I can, then I did the best I could to make that happen," he said. "It is definitely a goal of mine that I have had for a while, since no one has ever gotten four wins, but it is not something that puts a lot of pressure on me on race day."

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